


Side-Stepping

by pocketmouse



Category: Torchwood
Genre: AU, Exit Wounds, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2009-01-29
Updated: 2009-01-29
Packaged: 2017-10-22 16:49:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 700
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/240258
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pocketmouse/pseuds/pocketmouse
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>People who knew her a year or two ago might be surprised, but Gwen likes the quiet of working in the station, not being on the beat any more.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Side-Stepping

People who knew her a year or two ago might be surprised, but Gwen likes the quiet of working in the station, not being on the beat any more.

It's nice because she gets a chance to catch a glimpse of Andy from time to time. Not that she sees him much, he usually just pops in long enough to wave hello while he's pulling up some paperwork for another wild animal attack. "You know how it is," he says, then looks guilty. It's silly, though, because she's not jealous of him at all. She likes the boost to desk sergeant — after the bombings a lot of people moved up, like Andy's secondment. A desk job will be perfect, especially once she can convince Rhys that they should have a baby. He's oddly reluctant, saying they should give her folks more time to recover — "Recover from what?" The wedding, apparently. Rubbish.

* * *

She catches a young man in a sombre suit hanging around by her desk one afternoon, not saying a word, just watching her, for about five minutes. She wouldn't think anything of it, just a young bloke killing time, except she sees him again, a week later, as she's heading home. He's coming out of her building, so she decides he must be a neighbor, and gives him a smile and a hello. He looks surprised and hurries off.

"Is there a new bloke in the building?" She asks Rhys, shedding her coat and setting down her keys. He's still not used to her return to normal hours, he says.

"New bloke?" His face scrunches cutely. "No, I don't think so."

"Only I just saw someone — he was at work last week, I figured he must be new. You sure?" she pressed. "Young lad, nice suit?"

Rhys turns away. "Oh, that was a prospective customer."

"Rhys Williams! I never! Entertaining clients at home!" She shakes her head, smiling. "Still, I wonder what he was doing at work then."

Rhys drops down beside her and pulls her close, dropping a kiss on her head. "Sweetheart, you work in a police station. All sorts of people come through there."

She nods. There's no need to be so bloody paranoid.

"Besides," Rhys' tone lightens. "He works for the mortuary, he was probably picking up a body."

"Rhys!" She slaps him on the chest, and things quickly devolve from there.

Still, it does explain the suit.

* * *

Her mates would ask, sometimes, ‘So what did you do then, eh Gwen? What was it like, working for Torchwood?’

She doesn’t have the heart to tell them — she can’t, actually. She wasn’t working for Torchwood. She was working for Internal Affairs — Torchwood was just a cover. Disappointing, she knows. But she just gives a wicked grin and says ‘I’d tell you, but then I’d have to kill you,’ and they all laugh, and have another round.

It’d be silly, anyway. She wouldn’t know what to do, running around in great trenchcoats, all cloak-and-dagger like, or whatever it is they do.

She likes the quiet.

* * *

She used to love horror films. She remembers she’d sit there and laugh at the cheesy plot, the horrible dialogue, the inaccurate makeup. But they rent one of her favorites one night, and they have to stop before they’re halfway through. Rhys asks her what’s wrong and all she can do is sit there, tears in her eyes, thinking, ‘those poor zombies.’

* * *

They’re out at the Opera House — it’s a beautiful spring evening, not raining for once, almost warm. They’re there for another boring charity fundraiser for the police force, something her job requires of her more now. She has managed to drag Rhys along for once. Right now he is getting the car while she enjoys a breath of fresh air — one of the few things she misses being stuck in an office all day.

She’s leaning on the rail by the water, when out of the corner of her eye, she sees a man in a coat. She only registers it because it’s rather odd, the coat looks too warm for this weather. But when she turns to look, there is no one there.

Just an empty piece of pavement.


End file.
